Nyctophobia or Fear of Darkness - Essay Example

Being a very common ear among young children, the inability of adults to conquer fear can be extremely debilitating in adulthood. Children as young as 2-3, may be afraid of sleeping in a dark room, entering a dark place, or being alone in the dark. However, even senior citizens as old as 65-70 years can live in a continual state of anxiety especially during the night despite living in a crime-free area (Thobaben, 1997). This shows that the fear of darkness is prevalent among all irrespective of age or gender

Symptoms
People suffering from nyctophobia have a wide variety of symptoms. The only common symptoms include fearing going into the dark or being surrounded by darkness. Besides these, individuals suffer from different physiological and psychological. Common symptoms include anxiety, breathlessness, anxiety, perspiration, rapid heartbeat, trembling, and dizziness. In some cases, these may even become severe leading to unconsciousness and fits.
In many cases, the fear of darkness often dictates the life of the patient.

Causes
Like most phobias, nyctophobia also has multiple causes. The phobia has been associated with a psychological foundation however according to research conducted by George Devereaux, neurological conditions also affect the onset of the phobia (Devereaux. 1949). According to Devereaux, in the dark, the predominance of the peripheral rather than the dominance of the diurnal macular vision plays a pivotal role in the perpetuation of fear.
a. Heredity

Heredity does not play a very major role in causing the phobia. However, if a parent has nyctophobia he/she may create a phobic atmosphere in the house which has an impact on other members as well. Even though some twin studies have shown that phobias may have some genetic impact yet some other studies have shown that the influence of environmental factors was much more.
b. Environmental/ family

Treatment
In most cases, children are not treated professionally since most of the children gradually come out of the problem. In the case of children, parental guidance and counseling is enough to help the children recover from the fear of darkness. However, when adults suffer from the problem, they may be unaware of it and in some cases hide it from others. This leads to complications since the patient gradually succumbs to his fear, and ultimately his life is driven by the fear. Often the fear leads to night blindness and other sleeping disorders.
The most successful way to control the phobia is to seek medical advice. In severe cases, medication can help while in other cases several therapies may be of some help.

a. Drugs
b. Therapies.
Since the fear of darkness commonly has a psychological basis, most of the therapies employed to treat it have been adopted from cognitive-behavioral theories.
Indirect hypnotherapy is another method to help come out of the fear of darkness (Williams, 1985). Read More